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X6— 47S72-2 «f»o 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



A MEETING OF THE FRIENDS 



CIVIL 6i RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, 



RESIDING IN THE 



\>ISTUICT 0¥ UOIiUMBIA, 



ASSEMBLED AT THE 



OXTY BALL ZN WASHINGTON Cxi IT, 



TUESDAY AFTERNOON, THE20TH JUNE, 1826 J IN PURSUANCE OF PUBLJC 
NOTICE GIVEN IN THE NEWSPAPERS OF WASHINGTON, GEORGETOWN, 
AND ALEXANDRIA. 



ARRANGED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN BOYLF, 

SECRETARY OF THE MEETING. 




PRINTED BY PETER FORCE, AT THE OFFJCE OF THE 
NATIONAL JOURNAL. 

1«2G, 









;^ 



CIVII, AND RELIGIOUS UBERTY. 

• 
A few gentlemen of the District of Columbia, de- 
sirous of ascertaining tlie opinion of their Fellow-citizens 
as to the propriety of transmitting a consolatory address 
to the people of Ireland, caused the following notice to 
be inserted in the. public Journals of the District : 

•' The friend* of civil and religious liberty, in this District, are 
" requested to meet at the City Hail, in Washington City, on Tues- 
" day, the 201 h instant, at 5 o'clock, P. M. to express their svm- 
" puthy for I he people of Ireland, and nn earnest desire and hope 
" of a speedy amelioration ol their condition." 

" June 15, 1826." 

In pursuance of the above notice, at the time ap- 
pointed, a numerous and respectable assemblage of the 
Citizens of the District convened at the City Hall, in 
Washington, which had been politely furnished for the 
occasion by Roger C. Weightman, Esq. Mayor of the 
City. 

At 5 o'clock, P. M. George Washington Parke 
Custis, Esq. of Arlington, was invited to the chair, 
and John Boyle, of Washington, appointed Secretary 
to the meeting. 

As soon as the meeting was organized, the following 
letter from the Rev. J. W. Fairclough, of Alexandria, 
was presented by Mr. Charles Murray, and read from ti e 
chair. The sentiments contained in the letter were fa- 
vourably received by the audience. 

To the Chairman of the Meeting oj the friends of C>vil and Religi- 
ous Liberty, in the City Hall, Washington. 

Alexandria, June 20th, 182C. 
Sir : Sorry I am that my manifold occupations prevent me from 
attending your meeting this evening. 1 hope the address to the 
people of Ireland, emanating from the Metropolis of the free United 
States of America, will be consoling to, will he sympathizing with 
our suffei ing brethren in persecuted Erin; will speak in stronjr, 
intelligible and dignified lerms, becoming the dee cilizei s 
of a free country, the fellow kindred feelings which glow 
in the heart of every exile, of every free born American. You 
cannot express your feelings too strongly. Ireland demand! 
your sympathy. Sympathize then with her, as children 
who love their parents. Let it be known in Erin that Irishmen in 
America have not forgotten the land of their nativity j that the 



4 

descendants of Irish emigrants have Irish blood still flowing m their 
veins, that they are still blessed with Irish feelings. Let Ireland 
know, from one extremity to the other, that the free citizens of 
America would be delighted to see the bonds of her slavery broken 
asunder, and rejoice to see her (in the language of her Curran,) 
disenthralled from the domination of despotism, by an act of un- 
qualified, unconditional emancipation. I am, sir, an Englishman by 
birth, and I boast of having, both in England and America, (as far 
as my poor abilities and opportunities afforded.) been the steady 
advocate of persecuted Ireland. Let our sentiments, our feelings, 
be known throughout the whole British Empire. Let England feel 
ashamed of her conduct when she sees the whole world arrayed 
against her, deprecating her unnatural conduct towards her sister 
Ireland. I hope your meeting will be numerous and respectable. 
Present, Mr. Chairman, my most cordial concurrence with the 
wishes and object of the meeting. 

J. W. FAIRCLOUGH. 

At the request of the meeting, the Chairman deliv- 
ered an address, in substance as follows : 

In the address, which it is your pleasure that I should make 
from the chair, should I fail in producing that impression, which 1 
could hope to produce, and you might perhaps expect, let a failure 
be attributed to a state of broken health, and spirits, rather than to 
any want of zeal for the cause of civil and religious liberty, or want 
of sympathy for the cause of Ireland. 

It is supposed ihat he, who has now the honour of addressing 
you, is connected by remote ancestral lineage, with the family of 
Dillon. It may be so, ar it may be not so, it is no matter ; still if 
there is a single drop, in the current of my existence, which flows 
from an Irish source, it wiil ever be .varm in my heart, while that 
heart itself is warm. 

I came here as an American, I feel as an American. I shall speak 
as an American ; it is not Irishmen alone, that have congregated to 
this interesting bidding, not Catholics alone, for there are many 
here, who worship at other than the Apostolic shrine. 'Tis a mil- 
lennium of feeling, where various tribes of men have assembled in 
love of one another, to express their hatred of oppression, and 
their sympathy for the oppressed. 

Thanks to the good feeling which is abroad, and far may it spread ; 
we have a most numerous and respectable assembly ; but why are 
we content with this most spacious hall, why have we not to seek 
a wider arena ? Because, forsooth, there are those who doubt the 
propriety of interference, in the concerns of other people, potentates, 
or powers. 1 ask these scepiice, "Quid timetis," Do you fear the 
old Lion's growl ? From our Eagle's eyry, I " laugh to scorn" 
his rage. But perhaps there are Protestants who have scruples of 
conscience, and decline to interfere, even in opinion, with papal 
matters. If thesffare Americans, let me say — When you felt the 
full tone of the Lion's merciless fangs, who first gave vou the aid, 



not of words, but deeds I That was a time, when Americans were 
not sticklers in doctrinal matters, it was, when to our wasted war 
worn ranks, we were glad to receive the religionists of any creeds 
and found, to our comfort, and to our independence too, that a 
Catholic arm, could drive a bayonet on the foe, and a Catholic heart 
beat high for the liberties of our country. 

When our friendless standard was first unfurled for resistance 
who were the strangers ihn\ first mustered round its staff, and when 
it reeled in the light, who more bravely sustained it than Erin's- 
generous sons. Who led the assault of Quebec, and shed that early 
lustre on our arms, in the dawn of the revolution? He, who will 
live in everlasting memory, and who rests in heaven — Montgomery. 
Who led the right wing of Liberty's forlorn hope, at the passage of 
the Delaware ? An Irishman. Who felt the privations of the camp, 
the fate of battle, or the horrors of the prison ship, more keenly 
than Irishmen/ " Look on this picture," Americans, which tho'feebly' 
is faithfully drawn, then talk of interference, and 1 blush tor my 
country. 

Or will you " seek farther their merits to disclose. " I cap the 
climax of their worth, wben I say, Washington loved them, for 
they were the comrades of his toils, his perils, and his glories, in 
the deliverance ol his country. 

Nor was the liish feeling for our cause, confined to this hemis- 
phere. In Erin, and in the darkest days of our destiny, whenev- 
er it was told, that we bore ourselves bravely in (be field.though press- 
ed by misfortune, and that Liberty's pennon still flew, though shattered 
by the gale, a thousand, aye an hundred thousand times, did the 
poor Irishman take off his hat, and cry from his heart, God save 
j;reat Washington and the cause of America. And this, Americans, 
n the \ery Lion's jaws. 

And with such revelations as these, can you, will you, dare you 
Americans, talk of interference, and withhold your voice from u 
general acclaim, which should thunder in this land till its echoes 
reach the Emerald Isle, in a prayer for her deliverance. If 
there is an American, who does not feel for the vv rones of that 
country, which so nobly contributed to the establishment of our 
lights, I pronounce him recreant to the feelings of virtue, honour 
and gratitude. And my country's self, if she decline to give only 
her poor opinions of the miseries of those, who gave their coil and 
blood, that she might be great, free, and happy, when misfortunes 
next assail her, may she not find tlj^ friend, she ouce found in Ire- 
laud. 

This token will convey our greetings to Erin's distant sons, and 
when it arrives there, they will exclaim, there is yet a people 
who remember poor Ireland, and who. rejoicing in their own rights, 
can feel for the wrongs ol others. Let our scroll be inscribed 
From the Land of Liberty, to the Land of Montgomery. 

But let not Ireland despaii. There is " a title in the affairs" of 
natio is, like that of men, "which, taken at the flood, leads on to 
glory " The spring source arises in our happy empire, but see, 
its mighty current already flows to the peaks of the Andes, and, like 



the blessed Nile, fertilizes and render? plenteous, .ill the regions 
within its reach. 'Tis the sacred, though restless stream of Liberty. 
It flows to the land of Leoniilas, bearing on its bosom, the corses 
of her inhuman oppressors. 

Behold the genius of Greece, as she towers above the shattered 
walU of immortal Missolonghi, in the one hand she grasps the 
standard of the cross, the symbol of salvation to man, with the other 
she wields the avenging sword of her deliverance, blood stained 10 
the hilt, and cries to her oppressors j 

" Now welcome fate, 
" And, it I perish, I will perish great ; 
" Yet in a mighty deed, I will expire, 
" Let future age* hear it and admire." 

Illustrious Greece, worthy of thine ancient renown, goon in thy 
proud career, till not a turbaned tyrant remains to pollute thy classic 
soil. Then, why should Ireland despair? The tree of Liberty 
grows no where in a day. Though the soil be genial, its roots must long 
be moistened with the blood of heroes, and of patriots, ere it rise to 
grandeur, and shade and shelter the land. 

Has Ireland no qualities to fit her for a better fate ? Go to the 
Senate, and the Bar ; go where you will, you'll know her genius, by 
the lustre that it sheds around it — or will you rather to the fields 
of Fame. When did Albion entwine a victor's laurel, that Erin 
did not contribute full many a leaf, Irom the Plains of Abraham, to 
the Plains of VValerljo, from Wolfe to Wellington ? And now 
that England will erect a trophy for the greatest of her triumphs, 
let it not be of unmeaning iron, let her search well that memora- 
ble field, and she will find enough of Irishmen's bones, to raise a 
cenotaph as high as 1'ompey's pillar. 

Permit me to conclude, with the Invocation to Ireland, as uttered 
by the child of Mount Vernon, on the day of Independence, and 
under the venerable Pretorium of the Revolution. 

" Health and success to the Emerald Isle ! my country's friend, in 
my country's utmost need. May she soon be relieved from the 
Lion's grasp, for the Lion is of a kind that fondles ere it kills, whose 
blandishments lure but to destroy, while the Eagle sutlers the 
smallest bird to wing his wonted way, and to warble his hymns of 
praise, in the pure melody of nature, the song of the soul. And 
when Ireland shall strike her Harp, to the wild notes of Erin and 
Liberty, the ocean breeze will bear to her shores, the prayers of 
Americans, to clieer her in her glorious struggle, and hail her re- 
generate in the rights of mankind. 

"Ireland, thou friend of my country, in my country's most friendless 
days, much injured, much enduring land, accept this poor tribute 
from one, who esteems thy worth, and mourns thy desolation. 
May the God ot Heaven, in his justice and mercy, grant thee more 
prosperous fortunes, and in his own good time, cause the sun of 
Freedom, to shed its benign radiance on the Emerald Ule ! 

Erin and Liberty, Eiin go bragh. 1 ' 



The Chairman having finished his address, which 
was heard with profound attention, was cheered with 
repeated and general bursts of applause — 



Counsellor SAMPSON then rose, and addressed the 
meeting as follows: 

I have double thanks, sir, to return here : for the honour of a 
special invitation, and for the pleasure I have experienced 

Such a meeting as this, on a notice so unproclaimed, proves to me 
that here, at the centre, as at the extremities of this Union, there is 
one generous sympathy which cannot be appealed to in vain, when- 
ever the star spangled banner rallies to its standard, the manly 
spirits that abide in " the land of the free, and the home ©fthe brave." 

The tixed attention with which your discourse was listened to, 
and the appiobation which followed on its close, moreover prove, 
that nhatever religious or political opinions, go to the composition, 
of so numerous an assembly, you have touched the chord with 
whioh all harmonise. And, with respect to ill starred Ireland, you 
have mingled with the rapid flow of native eloquence, a perfect 
knowledge of her cause. 

No wonder, then, that sentiments so indigenous should flow spon- 
taneously from the heart of a child of Mount Vernon, and of the 
school of Washington ; and that his tongue should be prompt to 
speak the dictates of native honesty and truth. You have remark- 
ed what was worthy, sir, of noticing: that when meetings are pro- 
posed, whether for substituting the scriptures, and charities of the 
gospel, in the place of heathenish cruelty and superstition, or to 
cheer the struggling Greeks, or congratulate our southern brethren, 
or to suppress slave trading, or piracy, or for any other such be- 
nevolent purposes, no fastidious intimations are circulated as to the 
propriety of interfering in concerns not our own. But, when it 
regards the peopJe on earth, to whom our kindest sympathies are 
most justly due, then it is thai from unseen and unacknowledged 
agencies, proceed certain murmurings and gibbering* in the air, 
like " voices of spirits and goblins in the dark ;" or baritoned croak- 
ings of ill omened birds. These may be natural in the mouths of 
such " as stand in the adoption of abominable terms," where Amai- 
mon sounds well, Lucifer well, and Barbason well, though they are 
devil's additions, and the names of fiends. But when such things 
are repeated by any one of our own loyal fellow citizens, it appears as 
though he had been practised upon in some unguarded moment bj 
preternatural spells, and his reason surprised and taken prisoner; 
that, like the King in Hamlet, traitors had poured poison in his ears, 
as he unsuspectingly slumbered : but now the cock has crowed, the 
day has dawned, and the spirits of niiiht are flown, and I trust, sir, 
ttiey are laid forever, that they are cramped, their sinews shorten- 
ed, their spells dissolved, and that their charms wilt work do more. 

"And now all this derision, 

W»il seem but a§ a drearo, and fruitless vision.'* 



8 

A strange derision, truly, and delusion! To abridge our own 
natural freedom, and become connivers, lest in speaking truth we 
should trouble the repose of those who were not always «o tender 
of ours. Sir, we have given no power to our own government to 
control the free expression of our opinions, on any topic of morali- 
ty, or of history, ancient and modern, and if we surrender this right 
to any other, what becomes of that independence that cost so dear. 

You have related sir, how, when the ever honoured Washington 
was forejudged as a rebel, and a traitor, the poor Irishman., in spite 
of the lash suspended over him, and at the peril of being himself 
punished as a rebel, could not be restrained from uttering his 
ardent wishes for the succe-s of that patriot chief, and the deliver- 
ance of this laud. You have made the application, sir, and 1 shall 
say no more. 

But policy ! — No sir, there is as little of policy, as of magnanimi- 
ty in such feeble counsels. Independence is not all. The gener- 
ous character must be sustained that gives both strength and dignity, 
and crowns the sacred majesty of a tree and sovereign people. And 
if I were asked when it was tnat this country reached the summit 
of its glory, I should say it was in that memorable year, when 
Lafayette received the grateful homage due to early friendship, 
constant attachment, and long remembered services When the 
veteran companions of his early honours hung upon his neck, and 
finding words too poor, paid the tribute of their love in tears : 
when heroes stripped the laurels from their brows, to fling them 
at his feet, when every mean and paltry strife was hushed, when 
rushing multitudes respected the lines that innocent infants guarded : 
then it was that this republic loomed largest in the eyes of nations : 
then that her glory shewed in bold relief. Of the Greeks, and of the 
Turks, what do we know, but that one is oppressed, and the other 
an oppressor ? We have seen neither of them, and are in peace 
with both Of the South American Republicans, we know but little, 
but the principles they contend for, are the same as our own, and 
we address them, though strangers to their speech, and they to ours; 
we have no holy ties of blood, or kindred, or mutual good offices. 
It is enough that we consider their cause to be that of the great 
family of mankind, of which we form, I trust, no inconsidorable 
portion. 

When England, sir, whom some seem so much afraid of disobli- 
ging found it fur the interests of her commerce to acknowledge 
fho-e republics, who have just burst the bonds of their colonial 
dependence, did she wait for the consent of their legitimate sover- 
eign ? And when her agents whisper such suggestions in our ears, 
would not they themselves laugh at us for listening to them ? 

But what good can a handful of citizens assembled in a room do 
by their resolutions or addresses ? Sir, they can do as much in the 
Oitv H:«H of Washington's City, as the same number of subject* 
assembled at a thatched tavern, or a Crown and Anchor ! They 
can add the weight of their opinion to that mass of opinion, which, 
in spite of holy or unholy alliances, (as they may be called or mis 
called. ) must ultimately govern the world. 



We have seen thrones that stood opposed to the current of opi- 
nion, swept away. We have seen those whom adulation seated in 
the clouds, when the long gathering thunder stroke dissolved those 
clouds, precipitated headlong, fathom by fathom, to their mother 
earth : and, if the power of the sword could have withstood the 
power of opinion, the greatest captain of thi*, perhaps of any age, 
would not have fallen. 

Opinion, sir, is formed like the material objects of our senses, 
the earth, the sea, the clouds themselves, of aggregated and co- 
herent particles. If ours cohere with those of our fellow-citizens 
elsewhere, they are surely of as much weight as those propagated 
at great charge by mercenary writers and well paid orators 

In too great a portion of the world, chaos and night still keep 
their ancient sway over the human mind. In others, the principles 
are quickened, but the organ of expression is still wanting. Who 
is, then, to watch the sacred fire, or feed the lamp of life, if it be 
not those whose union, freedom, safety, and glory, are the imme- 
diate creatures of opinion, and who, m surrendering the right of 
free discussion and communication, would betray the cause of man. 
and sign their own death warrant ? 

And is not the state of Ireland the reigning topic not only in the 
British Parliament, but in all other civilized countries, or circles ? 
Suppress that topic, and what becomes of the speculations of the 
political, statistical, commercial, and physiological writers. From 
whence shall examples be drawn to illustrate arguments on the effects 
of perverted religion, and mistaken principles of government, of 
the causes of want, and misery, and ignorance, and idleness ; of 
the minimum of sustenance upon which the species may be brought 
to labour, exist and propagate ; of an exacting church, extravagant 
government, restricted commerce, soldiers, middle men and ab- 
sentees ? 

But this can all be done better by the press ! No, sir, it can not. 
The press, sir, can not give the animation that such a meeting as 
this inspires. But, if that be an objection, we can cure it by call- 
ing in the power of the press. Let us publish our proceedings, 
and then we shall be as privileged as other congregated authors and 
editors ; though, like some that might be named, we shall not earn 
the wages of misrepresentation and corruption. Then we may 
talk freely of massacres in Ireland, or in the vale of Glencoe ; of 
the French revolution, the attack on Copenhagen, the famine of 
Lord Clive, the Begums of Oude, the black hole of Calcutta, pri- 
son ships, pitched caps, or walking gallows. 

But such, sir, is not our object. We do not wish to stir up bit- 
ter recollections of what can not be recalled, but to express, in 
cordial language to our friends in Ireland, our feelings for their 
present condition, and our hopes that, through the wisdom and 
foresight of their rulers, it may be speedily ameliorated, and gently 
to remind those rulers that there is a way, and that the only one 
yet left untried, to quiet Ireland, of which the honour may have 
been reserved for them, which ig simply to keep God's command- 

9 



10 

riuut, and do unto the Irish as they would the Irish should do unto 
them. 

Then suppose Irehind should league with some holy alliance, 
with Cossacks, Gauls, or ancient Britons, or rle*sians, or no matter 
whom, and get a Hull from the Pope, or make out a statutary title 
from king; Gurmonde by way of recital, (as in the preamble of (he 
statute of Eli.z. 1 1 , c. 1.) and then overrun England, and civilize her 
upon her own plan, by fire, sword, robbery, and famine, and, merely 
changing the name'!, u-e her own formulae of government and re- 
ligion, would it nol be thought humane and honourable in us, then, 
to console poor fallen England, and interpose our voice between 
her and her oppressors ? Would we not have a right to protest 
against "pernicious examples" before the lire that consumed our 
neighbour's house had reached our own ? And should we then 
hear of the impropriety of interfering in what did not concern us ? 

I speak now, sir, as an American, not as an Irishman. As one 
Standing in bis own country, amidst his own fellow-citizens ; one 
whose kindred, generations before him, paternal and maternal, 
'--re. settlers of tins land ; whose names m iy be traced in its geo- 
graphy and history, and even to the signing of the Constitution 
which binds us all together. If I was not born here, it was an ac- 
cident for which I will not be accountable. But, upon mature re- 
flection and after lull probation, I accepted of the terms of the law, 
and made a so'emn compact, ratified on the one hand by our Con- 
stitution, and on the other by my oath. I have done my duties as 
a citizen without reservation or equivocation : borne my portion ot 
the public burthen-* ; and, in the day of danger, sir, I took my stand 
with my country, for life or for death, whilst the only son I had lav- 
armed in the camp, a willing and a faithful soldier. I have spent 
half my life since man's estate, in the cit}' where I hist 
landed, and borne away from it the honourable testimonials of 
men who would do honour to any country. To have deserved 
these, if I have deserved them, is the revenge 1 have taken of my 
enemies. If any would know how I came from White Hall to New- 
York, he fflust search the arcana of that ancient seat of crime, in- 
trigue, and cruelty. It matters little now, further than this, that if 
this be not my country, I can have none. Those who had the 
keeping of me and my former country, and had also the keeping 
of magna chctrla, habeas corpus, trial by jury, and prcemunize, 
gave me the choice, after various illegal captivities and banishments, 
between New York and Botany Bay, and at their own charge land- 
ed me upon the fourth of July, 1806, just in time to join in the 
fi-slivities of that memorable and auspicious day. I took my part, 
as they would have it, and submitted to the destination they were 
pleased to give me. They banished me from England, and 1 did 
my best to return them the compliment; to banish them to Eng- 
land, when they invaded our shores. 

If I had remained here in my youth sir. when I first came to 
join my kindred, 1 mi^ht now have been qualified for President of 
the United States : but as the people have since put a curb upon 



1 1 

their freedom of election in tins behalf; I cheerfully submit to t.ha 
exclusion, bill to no oilier. He thai would make exceptions when 
the law makes none, is ;tn envious man at heart, and no true citizen* 
And if there he others here, who Hike myself have transferred their 
allegiance to a government that has hound itself by the reciprocal 
duty of protection, they will like me deny the barbarous principle 
of feudal tyranny, that a man can he horn the subject ol another 
man, and bound to drag the chain of vassalage throughout the world, 
and throughout his life ! 

Am 1 partial to my native land ? Yes, sir, I am, wherever the 
interest or honour of. my adopted country does not forbid- But 
neither that fondness, nor any feeling of the persecutions 1 have 
suffered for its sake, shall ever make me swerve in word or deed 
from the faith that 1 have plighted here. I ask then, sir, as citizens 
of the United States, are we not free to speak our hopes and wish- 
es for the emancipation of our friends from unjust thraldom, and 
innsl we see the despots of the world in league against the happi- 
ness of mankind, under the pretext of preventing bad example, and 
must we stand mute, and offer no opposition, or antidote, to the 
spreading and menacing evil ai' example ? Shall we not bear wit- 
ness to the blessings of religious toleration which we experience, 
and endeavour to avert the scourge of persecution from our friends 
and all God's people ? Is it not our duty ? The history of Ireland, 
sir, is pregnant with instruction. With every capacity i\>v happi- 
ness and prosperity, she his for centuries been steeped in misery : 
but the most cruel of her wrongs is this, that alter all monuments 
of her former virtues were destroyed, she has slili been pursued 
with unrelenting calumny. Her history has been written by her 
enemies, in her own blood. The crimes of her plunderers have 
been imputed to her, and their own acts, painted in terms too taithlul 
in all else, have been ascribed to her, by her invaders and her 
plunderers, to justify their ruthless and faithless massacres: whilst 
terror silenced contradiction, until they obtained prescriptive credit 
for what reason and plain enumeration now prove to have been 
impossible. What must hive been the delusion, when talented 
historians, such as David Hume, to heighten then descriptions, quote 
from such authors as those who tell of troops of Ghosts standing 
upright in rivers whole months together, shrieking for vengeance. 
There is compassion due, sir, to a people so wronged and so un- 
justly dealt with : whose friends have been (breed to look for their 
vindication in the stories of their enemies, and, as has bc-en said, 
to speak with the tongue ol their enemy, it was pathetically and 
truly observed by one of these, that when an Englishman fell, he 
died with twenty tongues in Ins mouth, but when the irishman fell, 
he never spoke more. Good and zealous men have by their honest 
labours at length brought truth to light in spite of the thick clouds 
of darkness that concealed it, and put it past all question that never 
were carnage and destruction, sacrilege and desolation, inflicted 
with such unrelenting inhumanity, as by the invaders of Ireland, 
aud that, not only upon those of liish race, but. upon the English 



12 

who had, after sharing in the plunder, degenerated into friendship 
and tender connections with thetn, subdued by their social qualities 
and virtues ; till the whole were reduced to that state of inciviliza- 
tion, where we now find them, objects of mockery and scorn, and 
tainted with vices not their own. But in spite of this degradation, 
the native virtues of their hearts will shew themselves where they 
are kindly welcomed and protected ; and for the justice you have 
rendered them, they and their friends will thank you. 

And now, sir, but that long speeches are in bad odour, I could 
refer to documents that cannot be denied, and need no com- 
ment. To the Bull of Pope Adrian, the statutes of Kilkenny, and 
the popery code ; to trials, reports and manifestoes ; to the histories 
of the most inveterate enemies, which give proofs of their virtues, 
and the constancy with which they suffered, for their faith, 
and their legitimate but most unworthy Kings ; on whom they were 
too generous to turn their backs in the hour of their distress. 

Many, most of us probably, are Protestants of English race. We 
can only excuse our ancestors by the times they lived in, when 
disorders prevailed, and the appeal was to the sword. Let us say 
in the words of the Redeemer, forgive them, Father, for they knew 
not what they did. Like the mad cru.«aders of old, they were 
taught to believe thai God was with them. Many of the principal 
actors were punished in this lite, many died miserably and stung 
with remorse. Let us not shut our eyes upon the truth, but do the 
good we can. If our words are impotent and inefficient, they are 
then quite innocent. But let us not think too humbly of ourselves. 
We are a part of that nation which has proved by the fullest expe- 
rience, the advantages of civil and religious freedom. Other nations 
seeing this, follow our example, and copy from our institutions. 
We think, too, that the juncture is favourable to our hopes. The 
solemn and repeated enquiries in the British Parliament, into the 
state of Ireland, and the tenets of the Catholic church, which if 
done merely to turn them round again would be a mockery. Certain 
indications of growing liberality in other quarters, the more likely 
to be sincere as they are grounded upon interest if not necessity ; 
the present distresses in England, than which nothing better tends 
to soften the manners ; the inability of the English people to carry 
on a very costly and continual war in Ireland lor the mere sake of op- 
pression, or for the support df a small and obnoxious faction, insa- 
tiable in their exactions, and now themselves the only cause of all 
this smothered warfare : all these considerations make us hope, 
that though the cabinet may be too proud to notice any address, 
that we may transmit to our friends of the sister Island, they will 
be too prudent to shut their eyes to the truths which it will convey. 
They will no doubt, if they mean well to Ireland, have some oppo- 
sition to encounter, but if they can gain a nation of brave and war- 
like men, they will have made a bargain which will bring large pro- 
fit to their country and themselves. The first step will be ample 
and unreserved justice to the Roman Catholic, and after that every 
thing that can be done for the general happiness and prosperity of 



13 



the country. If we are, however, disappointed in these hopes, and 
the reign of terrror is still preferred and prolonged, it may be 
some consolation to our friends, for so we must call them, to find 
that there are those who feel for them, and it may be some encour- 
agement to persevere with fortitude, unanimity and prudence, till 
lime and occasion shall lead them to success. 



When Counsellor Sampson had completed his obser- 
vations, and the thunders of applause with which lie was 
greeted had subsided, 

Mr. GEOKGE SWEENY addressed the meeting 
in the following manner : 

Mr. Chairman — 1 hold in my hand three resolutions, which I 
have prepared at the request of some of the gentlemen who have 
had an agency in calling this meeting. 

1 did intend, in proposing these resolutions for consideration, to 
have trespassed for a lnnl space on this assembly : and in plain 
and homely phrase, to have spoken to you of the wrongs and suffer- 
ings ol those who dwell in the laud of my fathers. 

1 did intend to have reminded you of the service rendered to this 
republic, in the dark and gloomy day of her perilous trial, by many 
oi the gallant and generous sons ol unhappy Erin, in that event- 
ful but glorious struggle which terminated in the emancipation of 
litis now happy and highly lavouied laud, from the dominion of the 
oppressor. 1 intended to direct your view to the interesting re- 
publics ol the southern portion of our hemisphere, that have just bro- 
ken the chains ol bondage, and thence across the Atlantic, to the 
classic shores of long suffering and enslaved Greece, lo shew you 
that, whenever and wherever the victims ol tyranny have grappled 
with their oppressors, Ireland, generous Ireland, has sent forth her 
gallant sons to participate in the tight, and mingle their blood with the 
blood of the patriots. Arid then, sir, I wished to lead you to the 
"Emerald Isle,'"' to shew you that, that land upon which tlie victims 
of persecution and cruelly have uever called iu vain lor assistance; 
(hat those who have freely poured out their blood to set others free, 
are themselves in slavery ; that civil and political liberty has beeu 
denied to them by that very nation which perhaps could not have 
preserved either lor itself without the effective force it has drawn 
from that which it has for centuries trampled under toot ; that the 
portals of heaven baVe been vainly and presumptuously attempted 
to be closed against the Irish Catholic, because he will not aban- 
don the road trodden by his fathers forages; and that the last shil- 
ling has been wrung from the child of penury and want, to pamper 
the lordly minister of a religion, which he conscientiously believes 
to be not better, perhaps lees pure, thau his own. In line, sir, i intend- 
ed, according to my poor ability, to assign all the reasons, why 1 think 
that the people of this happy Republic ought to speak words of en- 
couragement to their brethren in the " laud of sorrow and of song," 



14 

and, if they cannot heal, at least to pour the balm of consolation into 
their wounds. But i confess, sir, I ieei unequal to the task 1 had mark- 
ed out for myself, i caiiuot now, ivy any ill timed acid feeble elforls 
of mine, consent to iriar the gratification and delight afforded by the 
highly gifted gentlemen who have preceded me, and whose elo 
queuce and patriotic sentiments have enchained ihe attention, and 
called forth the plaudits of this assembly. 

1 therefore present for consideration the following resolutions, in 
the humble hope titat liiey will receive the concurrence of this en- 
lightened assembly . 

1. Resolved, That this meeting entertains for the People of Ireland sentiments 
of the wannest regard mid friendship, and views w'uli the deepest sympathy the 
oppressed and degraded condition in which six sevenths of them have long 
been, and still are kept, on account of their ardent and conscientious attach- 
ment to theii religious principles. 

'2. Hcsolced, Th.it as well in grateful remembrance of the valuable services 
rendered to the Uniie't States during their Revolutionary struggle, and subse- 
quently, by many of the sous of Ireland, generous friends to freedom and the 
lights of man, us in accordance with those principles which it is their pride to 
cherish, those citizens ql ttie District of Columbia, here assembled, will pminote 
the cause of emancipalipn in Ireland, and the restoration of all the. People of that 
Island to the lull enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, so far as the same can 
be done by the unrestricted, but temperate expression ul their sentiments thiough 
the medium ot the free press in this country. 

3. Resolved, That a Committee of fourteen gentlemen be appointed by the 
presiding officer, who sii ill, in conjunction with himself, prepare and report an 
address, expressive of the sentiments of this meeting, in lelation to the objects 
on which we have been assembled to deliberate, and communicate the same, 
signed by the Chairinf.u and Secretary of the meeting, to the suffering and op- 
pressed peopie oi 1 .eland. 

On the first Resolution being read from the chair, the 
Rev. ROBERT LITTLE addressed the meeting as 
follows : 

Ma. Chairman — I was entirely uninformed of the persons by 
whom this meeting was called, until I came into Ibis Hal!; nor 
did 1 know any thing more of the purpose ol the meeting, (ban 
what appeared in the general terms of the advertisement by winch 
it was conveued. iiul, sir, the words "Civil and Religious Lib- 
erty,", in thai cull, awakened sentiments which they never fail 
to excite in my heart. Whatever, or whoever, strikes (hat note, 
finds always a responsive chord in my breast. We are met then, 
1 find, by the explanations already given, lo express our sympathy 
with, and to hold out the language of consolation lo the oppress- 
ed, degraded, injured, insulted, friends oi lieedoiir, ami especially 
the poor lri;-h Catholics, marked out by an exclusive spirit of 
fanaticism and bigotry, as the objects of persecution and restric- 
tion. Sir, 1 am not an Irishman, 1 am a native of" the laud of 
Ireland's oppressors. Hut at no period of my life did 1 accord 
with the spirit of intolerance, nor have ever ceased since I came 
to the possession of a malure understanding, and have acted a part 
in the public affairs of life, to denounce ami despise the haughty 
indignities of .religious persecution ; this blasphemous interfer- 
ence with thr prerogatives and appointments of God! He has 



15 

given lo every man, an understanding nnd conscience, by which 
he should he governed in peeking after and worshipping his Creator. 
It is every man's birthright, which he holds by charter lrom hie 
God, to I hi nk of Him with his own thoughts, and to worship Him 
according to the dictates of his own understanding. 

If such were my thoughts and principles as an Englishman; 
much more so as an American, adopted and naturalized citizen. 
Here I breathe a purer air, and speak and act with less restraint. 
There is but one sentiment, one feeling, in ail this assembly, on 
this subject. We shall therefore with one voice tell the Irish 
Catholics, we pity your condition, we feel for your wrongs, we 
earnestly wish you the freedom to which you are entitled. 

As 1 have no national partialities on this subject, being no Irish- 
man, so neither have 1 religious interest in the question, for 1 am 
no Catholic. My sentiments are widely averse from theirs, but 
they are the result of long examination, and deep conviction of 
iheir truth. I hold them sacred; and would resist any attempt to 
coerce me to any course of action on their account. Shall I deny 
the same to the Catholic? I am often in the habit of investigat- 
ing freely, and censuring boldly, what I conceive to be erroneous 
in religion; but if', one rancorous feeling of hostility ; one illiberal 
or intolerant expression, indicating, or leading to, a spirit of per- 
secution, towards any profession, however adverse to my own, 
should at any time escape use, 1 should be self-condemned, and 
ashamed. 

We have heard much of Catholic emancipation. Sir, the very 
phrase is sickening to a well regulated mind. Who ever had 
any ri-rht to impose these restrictions, or to fasten these chains? 
And upon whom are they imposed? Is tiie very God of our adora- 
tion to he limited, as to the manner in which he may accept the 
service of his creatures? The Catholic always had, and must 
have, a right indefeasible, to worship God as he pleases, without 
prejudice to his temporal interests. And so have we ali. 

Here, thank Heaven ! we have no invidious distinction of 
sects. It is the glory of our common country, and the best secu- 
rity for its civil liberty. For if ever the period should arrive, 
(which God forbid,) when some one sect, I care not which it be. 
whether Catholic or Protestant, or any one of those numerous 
distinctions which exist among ourselves: when any one sect 
shall become predominant, and usurping national jurisdiction in 
matters of faith, shall say to the rest: "yes, you may worship 
God in your own way, we will give you liberty to do this, hut you 
must do it in all humility as becomes those who presume to dis- 
sent from the public faith ; you may not put stopplrs to your 
Churches, nor use bells, nor assume the distinctive dress of ttie 
established Clergy; nor may you aspire to offices of trust or pro- 
tit in the State, because you are heretics": I say, when it comes 
to this, thou farewell sweet liberty ; even political liberty will 
be but an empty name, when religious liberty is gone i 

Sir, I only rose to express these sentiments, and to give my 
hearty and entire approbation to the proposed Resolution. 



10 

The resolutions submitted by Mr. Sweeny, were 
severally proposed to the meeting and unanimously 
adopted. 

Mr. SWEENY then rose, and offered the follow- 
ing additional remarks: 

Mr. Chairman — I cannot let this occasion pas9, without asking 
the indulgence of the meeting for a few minutes. I do not appear, 
Mr. Chairman, as a native ot Ireland, hut I stand here as a Roman 
Catholic, in whose veins the unmixed hlood of Irishmen Hows, in 
the name of the Catholics in this room, and more especially, ot 
those who are native Irishmen, whom the iron hand ot op- 
pression his exiled from their kindred and their home, to return 
thanks for the liberal sentiments which have been so eloquently 
expressed by the enlightened and respectable gentlemen who have 
this evening addressed you in behalf of our brethren, still suffering 
in the land of their nativity. 

When we see, sir. our protectant brethren, of different countries, 
and of different and opposing creeds, catching and reviving the 
spirit of enlightened philanthropy, rising superior to the distinc- 
tions created by bigots in religion, and casting away all national 
prejudices, coming here, with united hearts, lo raise their united 
voices in behalf of our Catholic brethren in another land, and 
speaking to them in a language hut seldom heard by Catholic 
enrs, the language of brotherly love; when we hear, too, such 
liberality approved and applauded, in no measured terms,by so nu- 
merous and so enlightened an assemblage as this, we feel more sir, 
than we can utter. 

Mr. Chairman, such a scne is new to us, our henrts are full, we 
can feci as we ought to feel, but we cannot speak as we feel. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Sweeny's remarks, Counsel 
tor Sampson offered the following resolution, which was 
proposed to the meeting by the Chairman, and unani- 
mously adopted. 

4. Resolved, That the Committee directed to be appointed by the 3d Resolu- 
tion, be instructed by this meeting to express towards the liberal and enlightened 
statesmen, orators, writers, and clergy of Eugl.uid, who hive ably and generously 
advocated the cause ot civil and religions liberty upon the important question ot 
• mancipation, their high consideration of their services to the great family of man. 

The Committee was composed of the following gen 
tlemen, viz : 

Geo. VV P. Custis, Esq. Wm. Sampson, Esq. Rev. Robert Little, Thomas 
Carbery, Esq Jamas tloban, Esq. Alexander Kerr, Esq Henry Whetcroft, Esq. 
George Sweeny, Esq. Dr. William Jones, James M'Cleary, Esq. Robert Bar- 
ry, Esq. Thomas H. Howland, Esq. Colonel Isaac Roberdeau, Major Christo- 
pher Van De Venter, and Edmond Brooke, Esq. 



17 

This Committee retired for deliberation ; and when it 
returned, and the Chairman of the meeting had resumed 
his seat, Counsellor Win. Sampson, on its behalf, 
read the following address to the people of Ireland, 
which was, without a dissenting voice, adopted by the 
meeting. 

TO TIIS PEOPLE Or ZRBIANB. 

From a land where oppression is not felt nor feared, we your 
friends, united in our common sympathies for your condition, with- 
out distinction of party, creed, or birth place, send you our greet- 
ings. Would we could do more, and make you partakers in the 
blessings of equal rights and equal laws, and that the sons of Erin, 
might enjoy such peace and security in their native land as their bre- 
thren do, in this land of their adoption. Unworthy should we be, 
of all the blessings Providence has bestowed on us, could we look 
with sordid indifference on the lot of a people, connected with us 
by so many ties : of whose blood so much has been poured out in 
our cause, so much has mingled with our own, and who have been 
our early and our constant friends. 

It is not to stir up feelings, already too acute, by the reiteration of 
your wrong*, that we address you. The heart sickening story of the 
long sufferings of Ireland, is already promulgated and acknowledged, 
and marvelled at throughout the christian world and beyond. Happy 
for the oppressed, if it could be forgotten, thrice happy for the op- 
pressor, could it be for ever blotted from the sight and memory of 
God and man. 

The seventh century is now revolving since that fatal disunion first 
tempted the invader to your shores, which has made lum ever since 
the master of your destinies. Four of these were marked with 
the blood and rapine which characterized ages, piratical and unci- 
vilized; the remainder has been still more embittered by religious 
rancour. May not so many ages of suffering have at length expiated 
the first fatal error, and the present century, though begun in tribu- 
lation, yet prove to you, a Sabbath and a Jubilee of peace and rest? 

Let us not then too deeply probe wounds ihat we canoot cure, 
but assuage them rather with the cordial balm of hope. 

Hope, it is true, and Ireland, have long been strangers, or if the 
cup has sometimes reached her lip, as often has it been rudely 
dashed to the earth. And now, even now, in spite of the growing light 
and reason of this age, does your country exhibit the strange phe- 
nomenon of six out of seven millions of a christian people wasting 
their energies from year to year, in supplicating their fellow men, 
and if we believe it, their fellow christians, for leave to commune 
with their God, after the dictates of their conscience and their an- 
cient faith, without being, for so doing, disabled and disqualified 
ro the verv heart and bosom of their own native land. 
3 



18 

Much, it is true, has been already yielded to the exigencies and 
policy oi later times, and too much, if the empire of misrule is 
still to be maintained. And therefore fain would we believe, that, 
in the present rulers, of England, and of Ireland, there will be 
found wisdom and liberality suited to the occasion, and that for 
the very safety of that Empire, whose power they wield, they will 
rise above all mean considerations and narrow views, and that nei- 
ther petty pride nor sullen vengeance, will longer mingle with 
a question which all humanity already has decided And here let 
us pay a just tribute of respect to those distinguished statesmen, 
orators, writers and clergy of the English nation, whose talents 
have been so honourably displayed in placing this question in its 
fair light ,and dispelling the prejudices which hitherto had clouded 
it. Nor can we hesitate to suppose that the present rulers of the 
English councils, will gladly and speedily dedicate on the altar of 
conciliation, the last dishonourable trophy, the remnant of a bloody 
scourge of persecution, already worn to the very slump ; that they 
will wisely and prudently wash their hands of past crime and shame, 
and throw them back to the account of the evil times that were 
before them. 

Delusion is gone and cannot be revived. The question stands 
naked and palpable before the gre.it tribunal of the civilized world, 
and it no other motive were to have any influence, the fear of be- 
ing ranked with the blind fanatics and bigots who bring states to 
ruin, and of losing that ascendency which a character for wisdom 
attaches to governments and nations, must operate towards the 
change of a policy, which stands condemned by all. 

We reget for your sake and our own, that the cause of your 
country cannot, from your peculiarly distressing situation, be con- 
templated abstractedly from what we would willingly avoid ; reli- 
gious differences". And we know that malice will endeavour to make 
your misfortune, if possible, a crime. It is too easy to fix upon a 
political body, agitating a religious question, the character of illib- 
eral exclusion, and thereby to damp and chill the warm sympathies 
that the just and humane are ever disposed to feel for the injured and 
oppressed. But we consider the cause of the Catholics of Ireland 
contending for inalienable rights, as the cause, not only of Cath- 
olics and of Inland, but of all Ireland, and of the whole human 
family. For if it be once conceded that conscience can be enslaved, 
where is the neck which may not be made to feel the yoke ? Where 
is the despot, whether he be legitimate or has waded through blood 
to empire, that will not think it lawful to array his own bad pas- 
sions, in the garb of heavenly zeal ; and under the impious pretext 
of vindicating the God of all justice and mercy, usurp his judgment 
seat, and set both ju-;ice and mercy at defiance ? 

The wise founders of our constitution knew from experience, 
that the bane of pure religion was temporal power ; that persecu- 
tion was not confined to one church ; that if christians had been per- 
secuted, christians had persecuted, and the more cruelly that the 
tender charities of that religion of gentleness and^peace once set at 



/ 



18 

nought, (he sheet anchor of the christian virtues, f.iith. hope anu 
charity was parted, and there remained afterwards nothing by which 
to hold. The history of England and Ireland is a remarkable proof 
of this. Catholics hid persecuted Protestants, and Protestants had 
persecuted Catholics ; of which, if any should still doubt, let him 
look upon that code for the prevention of Popery, touching which 
there can be no misrepresentation", for it is recorded in rolls of 
Parliament, in statute books, and written in manuals of the law. 

We cannot better give the character of that code, than in the 
words of Edmund Burke. — "It was a truly barbarous system; of 
" which every part was an outrage upon the laws of nature, and 
'* the rights of humanity ; a wise and elaborate contrivance, as well 
M fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a 
" people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, a3 
"ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man." 

Wisely therefore was it provided by our organic constitutions, 
that no fiction, majority nor legislative power itself, should set up 
any dominant religion, or impede the free exercise of any. And 
well has that wisdom been proved by the result. Amongst the va- 
rious churches and shades of opinion which pervade our extended 
territory and population, there is but one universal article of faith 
established, and that is written not in statute law, but in the very 
tablets of our hearts. It is to love one another, and dwell together 
in unity and brotherly affection. To this last impressive command 
of the great author of the christian faith, both Jew and Gentile as 
well as Christian, in full sincerity of heart, subscribe. And shall 
it be violated by a Christian nation, boasting of its high civilization 
and professing to civr4ize others. 

A few months ago, whilst our Congress was in session, a Catholic 
Bishop preached by invitation in the Capitol.* The Chaplain of 
the Representatives, a Protestant divine, with the courtesy be- 
coming a christian minister, ceded the place appropriated for the 
exercise of his Sunday's devotion There, from the Speaker's chair 
of that magnificent hall, in presence of the first magistrate and other 
constituted authorities, of ministers foreign and domestic, and an 
enlightened audience of both sexes, after developing the general 
principles of the Christian faith, he took occasion, not for the sake 
of controversy but of conciliation, to vindicate those tenets of his 
church, of which the misrepresentations had been most prejudicial. 
He was heard with respect and attention, and his sermon was after- 
wards published at the desire of many Members of our Congress. 

His general testimony, as may be supposed, concurred with that 
heretofore given on so many occasions by foreign universities, and 
distinguished dignitaries of that Church, before the Parliament of 
England, and recently by all the Catholic Bishops of Ireland. 
But it required a more particular application to the circum- 
stances of the Republican Assembly which he had Id address. 

•Doctor England, Bishop of Charleston. 



20 

9t may he remembered that, when the question of Catholic emanci- 
pation was first agitated in Ireland, it was a most prevalent objec- 
tion to it, that the principles of that religion were adverse to those 
of English liberty and of the glorious revolution which established 
it ; that its members were in the law phrase, " incapable of 
taking or acquiring freedom," so deeply were they supposed to be 
imbued with the unconstitutional and anti-revolutionary doctrines 
of passive obedience and non resistance. On this delicate point, 
we cannot do belter justice to his arguments, than in his own 
words : 

u It is again urged that at least our church is aristocratic if not despotic in ii e 
principles, a*ni is not calculated for a republic, that its spirit is opposed to that 
of republicanism. This objection cannot be seriously urged by any person who 
bas scudierl history, nor by any person who is acquainted with our tenets. 
Look over the history of the world since the establishment of Christianity, and 
where have there been Republics? Have the objectors read the history of Italy? 
A soil fertile in republics, and most devoted to our religion ! What was the re- 
ligion of William Tell? He was a Roman Catholic. Look not only to the 
Swiss republics, but take San-Marino, this little state, -during centuries the most 
splendid specimen of the purest democracy, and this democracy protected by our 
Popes during those centuries. Men who make the assertions to which I have 
alluded cannot have read history ! Amongst ourselves, what is the religion of 
the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton ? Men who make these assertions 
cannot have read our Declaration of Independence. What was the religion of 
the good, the estimable, the beloved Doctor Carroll, our first Catholic Arcbbith- 
op ol Baltimore, the founder of our hierarchy, the friend of Washington, the as- 
sociate of Franklin? Have those men been degraded in our church because they 
aided in your struggle for the assertion of your rights, for the establishment of 
our glorious and our happy republics? No; they ere the jewels which ws 
prize, the ornaments of cur church, the patriots of our country. 

They and others, vjinni we count as our members and esteem for their virtues, 
have been the intimate and faithful associates of many of our best patriots who 
havt passed from our transitory scene, and of some who yet view in consolation 
our prosperity. What is the religion of Simon Bolivar? What the religion of 
the whole population of our republican sisters upon the Southern Continent? 
We are always assailed by speculation. We always answer by facts. Have 
we been found traitors in your councils, unfaithful to your trust, cowaids in your 
fields, or in correspondence with your enemies? Yet we have been consulted 
for on- prudence, confided in for our fidelity, enriched your soil with our blood, 
filler! your decks with our energy, and though some of us might have wept at, 
leaving the land of our ancestors because of the injustice of its rulers, we told 
our brothers who assailed you in the day of battle that we knew them not, and 
we adhered to those who gave to us a place of refuge and impartial protection. 
Khali we then be told that our religion is not the religion calculated for repub- 
lics, though it will be found that the vast majority of republican states and of 
republican patriots have been and evpn now are Roman Catholic? It is true, 
ours is also the religion of a large portion of empires, and of kingdoms, and of prin- 
cipalities. Th." fact is so for an obvious reason, because it is the religion of the 
great bulk of the civilized world. Our tenets do not prescribe any form of go- 
vernment which the people may properly and regularly establish. No revela- 
tion upon which my eye has fa lien, or whichever reached my ear.has taught that the 
Almighty God commanded us to be governed by kings, or by emperors, or by 
princes, or to associate in republics. Upon this God lias left us free to make our 
own selection. The decision upon the question of expediency as to the form 
of government for temporal or civil concerns, is one to be settled by society and 
not by the church. We therefore bind no nation or people to any special form, 
the form which they may adopt lies not with us but with themselves. What 
»uits the genius and circumstances of oue people, might be totally unfit for ano- 



21 

tber ; hence no special form of human government for civil concerns haab«e*n ge- 
nerally established by divine authority ; but the God ol order who commands 
men to dwell together in peace, has armed the government which has been prop- 
erly established by the principles of society with power lor the discharge of the 
Junctions which are given by society to its administiatii>n ; whilst it continues 
within its due bounds to discharge properly its constitutional obligations, it is the 
duty of each good member of society to concur in its support, and he who would 
rpsrst its proper authority, would in this case resist the ordinance of the God of 
peace and of order, and, as the apostle says, would purchase damnation for 
himself. This priutiple applies alike to all forms of government properly estab- 
lished, and propei ly administered, to republics and to kingdoms alike. It is then a 
mistake to imagina thai our church has more congeniality to one species of ci- 
vil government than to another; it has been fitted by its Author, who saw the 
fluctuating state of civil rule, to exist independently of any, and to be suited to 
either. Its own peculiar forms for its internal regulation, may and do continue 
to be adhered to under every form of temporal tule.'' 

We make no apology tor the adoption of this passage, nor of the 
conclusion which is in these words : 

" Religion, that holy name has too often been abused for this end, that man 
might flatter himself with having the sanction of heaven for the indulgence of a 
bad passion. In these happy and free states we stand upon the equal ground 
of religious right, we may freely love and bear with each other ; and exhibit to 
Europe a contrast to her jealousies in our affection. By enquiry we shall correct 
many mistakes, by which our feelings have been embittered : we shall be rnor-e 
■bound together in amity, as we become more intimate ; and may our harmony 
and union here below produce that peace and good will that may be emblema- 
tic of our enjoyment of more lasting happiness in a better world." 

Let us now return to the grounds of our hope, of approaching 
peace and contentment for your long vexed country. 

Our reliance is not altogether on the justice of your complaints 
of general misgovernment, nor on the Catholic claims, which we 
still must think a point of general concern, nor on the eloquence 
and energy with which they are advanced. Nor even on your 
Monarch's recommendation to his Parliament at Westminster ; nor 
on the tenderness of that Parliament ; still less on any resistance 
that you can or are disposed to make to the will of those who hold 
your destinies in their hands. ISor on your dutiful submission ; 
though each of these motives may serve to grace that necessity, 
which, if we do not much deceive ourselves, comes borne upon the 
current of events. We count more upon the strong and palpable 
interest of England herself. If the principles of commerce be not 
equally favourable to the growth of all the virtues, they have this 
of good, that they tend to dissipate ignorant prejudices and narrow 
jealousies. And if the new science of political economy deserves 
to be invoked, it has, we think, furnished this result at least, that 
nations are gainers and not losers by mutual prosperity ; how much 
more so if they be in intimate relation, as members of one Empire, 
United Kingdoms, sister Islands. And shall we do that unkmd- 
ness to your rulers, to suppose them blind, to what all wise men 
see. And as to their power, it would be strange, if those who can 
control the fate of distant nations and mingle in the quarrels and 
affairs of all, and carry tire and desolation to the earth's extrcmt 
ties, yet want the power to do good at home. Opposition they may 
encounter, but they gain a natiouu It is -not for us to dictate mea 



22 

sures. If any have acquired vested interests in any of the abuses, 
they may be liberally compensated, as has been elsewhere suggest- 
ed. On this subject, we are silent. 

If the history of Ireland be well considered, great lessons of 
policy as well as of moral and political justice will be found in it. 
And when the account is balanced of the good and evil which 
England has derived from her oppressions in Ireland, it must he 
acknowledged that the latter greatly preponderates, and that of all 
the schemes of dominion yet practised, the only wise one is that 
still left untried, of which the present Governors may have the 
credit. Liberality and Justice. 

From the time that one of the Norman tyrants who overthrew 
the Saxon constitutions and whose own reign was a succession oi' 
disorders, of filial, conjugal, paternal and religious strife, the same 
who was scourged by his monks for self convicted impiety, mur- 
der and sacrilege ; from the time that he, leaguing with a fugitive 
and profligate adulterer, purchased from an English Pope the right 
of civilizing Ireland, in consideration of, subjecting both England 
and Ireland to the tribute of St. Peter's pence, what has England 
ever reaped from that civilization, but vexation and trouble? Let 
that history be truly studied, and it will be seen how many Princes. 
Generals, courtiers, and favourites, who had been most specially 
active in this crusade of bloody and rapacious civilization, have 
been in their turn, deposed, disgraced, attainted, executed, or 
broken hearted. And though none were ever brought directly to 
punishment, for the crimes which they committed there, yet by a 
course of moral justice, they were overtaken. This might furnish 
a persuasive lesson to Ministers to oppress no farther, and i( they 
be loyal to their sovereign to beware how they contribute to make 
his p. How of flint and his crown of thorns. As instances ol tin* 
might be cited, Richard II., Elizabeth and her favourites, Essex and 
Raleigh, the whole race of the Stuarts, Strafford, the all powerful 
Cromwell, whose bones were dug from the grave to undergo the 
vain form of a traitor's execution, and others too tedious to name, 
whose last moments were like theirs embittered by remorse. In 
our own days, how was the Union under which Ireland is now 
governed, brought about ? By a provoked rebellion, openly boasted 
of as a great stroke of policy, and through the instrumentality of a 
Parliament so corrupted and degraded, that the very Minister who 
used it, lest any regret for its loss might remain, mocked, and 
scoffed at it openly in his place in the Parliament of England. But 
he should have remembered that the very title deed of that Union 
was trom that Parliament alone ; for the people with whose rights 
he and it had trafficked, then lay prostrate ; their purest blood still 
reeking, and the surviving patriots faithlessly banished, or retained 
in prison ships, and dungeons. And of that Minister himself, 
what shall we say ? whose first step to advancement was a solemn 
pledge to support the independence of that Parliament, his exalta- 
tion in the breach of that pledge. His lite and his death must be his 
tnonume.nt. 



23 

Une lure to (he Irish people was, that religious distinctions 
should thenceforth cease, and that in the Union with England they 
should acquire community of religious rights, as all affected alarm 
from preponderance of numbers would then cease. Here again 
were foolish treachery and unprofitable deceit. The. same little 
malignant spirit of vengeance still ruled the hour, and petty persecu- 
tions followed individuals, who, when their country's fortunes were 
decided, thought only of peace and retirement under a solemn 
treaty, in foreign lands. 

In all contracts between man and man, it is essential that the par- 
ties should be in perfect freedom. Want of reciprocity and equali- 
ty, by principles of natural law and equity, renders them void, and 
neither time nor prescription can cure the vice of fraud, force or 
circumvention. And prudent men, when their title is imperfect, 
seek for confirmation, which from the force of circumstances the 
injured party may find it for his interest to grant. What difference 
may be between States and individuals in this respect, is for politi- 
cians who rule by the sword, or casuists who trifle with the con- 
science, to declare. 

If then the wise counsellors of England would secure a title that 
has cost so dear in crime and cruelty, it must not be by dealing out 
justice and atonement with a niggard hand, but by sincere and 
honest dealing, to efface the memory of injuries and insults that 
the past evil may if possible be drowned in a flood of new pros- 
perity. It is upon such a course of policy that must depend, 
whether Ireland shall remain separate, excepting in name, or be 
in deed and in truth a United Kingdom, and a sister Island. And 
perhaps upon this the very existence of England, as a primary pow- 
er among nations, may ultimately turn. 

To bring about such cordial and consentaneous Union, whatever 
concessions proud England has to make, poor humbled Ireland 
must still make tenfold greater, she must concede forgiveness. Il 
will not then do at this day to stifle her complaints by mockery or 
calumny, because the question and the evidence is before the great 
tribunal of mankind, and England has now more need of character 
to obtain belief than Ireland. She must listen with patience to just 
reproaches and upbraidings, and be admonished by their awful 
truth. It will not do to say ; this people is barbarous and rude, 
lest it be asked, Who made them so ? nor to say, '"they hate us," 
lest it be inquired, '"Why do they do so?" It cannot be said by 
England, they invaded our territory, they plundered our churches, 
confiscated our soil, laid waste our provinces, exterminated our 
inhabitants, or tyrannized over our consciences under pretence of 
civilizing us, and then mocked at us, making their crime their pas- 
time. The Irish never changed their religion like their glove, at 
the caprice of any tyrant or despicable ruffian, and then murdered 
those who would not comply by adopting a faith so wavering and 
unsteady presented at the bayonet's point or cannon's mouth, under 
auspices so foul and fierce as would make heavenly truth and reve- 
lation itself, obnoxious. 



But Ireland may lift her mournful voice and say, " Why was our 
little sea girt Land, formed by the great Creator so fresh and fair 
that angels might rejoice, and men be blessed in it, so apt for industry" 
and arts within, and liberal intercourse abroad with all the nations, 
and the enjoyment of all that prosperous commerce can bestow, 
why, when all around was dark and barbarous, was it the safe 
retreat of contemplative wisdom, the sacred asylum of persecuted 
settlers, and ever more of generous and cheerful hospitality, the 
school of Alfred, the Banctuary at whose shrine Charlemagne 
kindled the torch that led him to renown. And why is education 
which might yet restore those faded honours, even in the first 
elemental schools, tainted with the inviduous spirit ol ascendency 
mixed with the sour leaven of religious jealousy, and poisoned iu 
its very cradle with the venom that lurks beneath the 3erpent'6 
forked tongue ? 

And why are the strains of our native bard addressed to his ill* 
starred country, as true as they are pathetic! 

*' TJnpriaed art your sons, fill they've learned to betray ; 
*' Undistinguished they live, if they shame not their sires ; 
'• Am) the torch which would light them to dignity's way, 
" Must be caught Iroiu the pile where their country expires." 

Why has the pure and generous blood of our patriots been ruth- 
lessly shed ? Why have those been hung on your gibbets, and buried 
in your dunghills, whose honest namos have risen, and will out- 
shine the titled honours bestowed upon their executioners, as 
surely as the orb of day effaces the sickly glimmer of the fading 
stars ? Why have you doomed to fearful dungeons and loathsome 
prison ships, the population of whole districts, and banished, vainly 
branding them as traitors, men who have told your story and their 
own, not in self boasting or vain glorious words, but in the dignity 
with which they bore their fortunes and the virtuous tenor of their 
lives. It will not do to cast reflections upon the Irish race, for 
there are too many witnesses in every country where they have 
resorted, that abroad, as well as at home, they can be both brave 
and faithful. In the first conflict that won the glorious independence 
of our country, and in that no less glorious that confirmed it, those 
of Irish birth, or Irish blood, have borne along with their fellow-citi- 
zens an equal and an honourable share: from Montgomery in the 
former, to Macomb and Alacdonough on the northern frontier, Perry 
on the Western lakes, Jackson on that now memorable spot where 
the vast waters of the Mississippi roll to the ocean. 

Such may be the effusions ol liish hearts still sensitive and feel- 
ing as they are — and those who would subdue these feelings, must 
treat them not with insult, but respect. 

Loyal as the Irish Catholic has been, and dearly as he has paid 
for not turning his back upon his princes, though of small desert, 
in the hour of their distress, and loyal as he can be reasonably 
presumed still to be, human nature should not be fegyw- -ito »*»* 



25 

itrong temptations. The limes are chanceful and eventful. Throne* 
change masters, magnanimous allies of to-day become enemies to- 
piorrow unto death ; six or seven millions of miserable people, 
whom poverty has rendered almost invulnerable, who have nothing 
to lo^e, anil can make no change lor the worse, being reduced, as 
it has been well said, to the " pessi/num and minimum'''' of human 
life, and yet warlike, and, it is said, barbarous, are subjects 
to he looked to. They may be bid for, they may be thought of 
more value by oilier powers than by that which now despises 
them ; they may be flattered by the offers of fairer terms, they may 
be seduced, they may be deceived ; they may be misled. 

Another ground of our hope is in the new commercial relations 
which England is anxiously forming with the younger free Repub- 
lics of this hemisphere, and the natural desire which she must 
have to promote those interests by gaining their confidence, and 
nn ascendency in their councils. They are as entirely Catholic as 
she is Protestant, and neither, we presume, are ready to change 
religions. They must meet then upon the fairground of mutual tol- 
eration. But with what gi are can England demand their confidence 
whilst she still proscribes her own subjects for their faith's sake. 
We think we see a motive here why she should deal indulgently 
with Catholics in Ireland. 

Again : we observe a new born spirit of humanity and philanthro- 
py in the interest she of late manifests towards the sable sons of 
Africa ; to which due praise be given. But if that spirit which ex- 
pands itself beyond the ocean, prove not of force to cross the nar- 
row channel, which separates England fr6m her sister Isle, may it 
not be imputed rather to some stroke of sinister policy for the an- 
noyance of some other people, than to the genuine principles of 
universal charity. 

The people of England also, if their voice will go for any thing, 
are deeply interested in a relorm of the Irish government: they 
have nothing but lost* from it as it now exists. There are no more set- 
tlements to establish, no plantations to make, nor ehurches to plun- 
der, except that which is now in the hands of the Protestant as- 
cendency. The whole channel trade consists of jt»b9 in church 
and 9tale, and the returns and profits are into the pockets ol a mo- 
nopolizing aristocracy. Oppressed with their own burthens a?id 
pauperism, they cannot long content to be taxed to make 
good the deficit of the Irish out of the English budget. How- 
ever hi time9 of fanatic delusion and intellectual blindness, the 
breach of God's commandments was a kind of luxury, when the 
name of the Lord vias a banner cry of massacre and plunder, that 
fearful influence no louger misguides them, and they will not now, 
lor the mere pleasure of aggravating the misery of their fellow 
creatures, maintain standing and mercenary armies and hosts of 
pampered spies for a war of mere wickedness. 

JFpo.dly then, do vye hope, Miat so many irotivesof policy and 
interest, combining with the enlightened principles of the age, and 
><tt vi'rsdnin of th.e British statesmen, may cflVct all the good for 
4 



26 

Ireland that present circumstances will admit, and future ones may 
improve. And that the first good-omen may be the restitution of re- 
ligious freedom, the first and most important of all humau rights, 
and against the violation of which we, in behalf of the whole human 
family, feel ourselves entitled to protest. 

Such are our views. We may be mistaken in them. Our re- 
moteness from the scene of agitation may shut from our view,, 
circumstances and particulars necessary to a correct judgment : 
On the other hand, that very distance may give us a more extend- 
ed view of the whole field, la either case, accept of these ob- 
servations in token of our affectionate regard- Should we be de- 
ceived and you disappointed, and no warning be taken from the 
character of the times, nor no lesson from past experience, the 
necessity of the case must provide the remedy. We, attached to 
our own republican institutions, may not be good judges of what 
might be best under all the circumstances for you. Officious ad- 
vice and dictation we disclaim. If you succeed in all your under- 
takings, the world will call you wise, and if you fail, cold hearts 
and little spirits will pass a different judgment. Let no conceited 
trimmers separate you from your friends. Unanimity, fortitude, 
and perseverance, is all that we dare recommend; your case is ar- 
duous, and requires the exercise of all your wisdom. May the 
Almighty be with you to enlighten your counsels, and lead you 
through your difficulties to freedom and prosperity. 

And now farewell — this one assurance we can add, and we hope it 
will prove consolatory, that there are millions and millions in dis- 
tant regions, and far beyond the seas, that take an interest in all your 
fortunes. 

After the reading and adoption of the " Address to 
the people of Ireland" Capt. William Hickey, of the 
National Volunteers, offered the following resolution, 
which passed unanimously. 

5. Rctolced, That the cordial ttvmks of tins meeting be presented to George 
Washington Parke iHistis, Esq. Counsellor William Sampson, the Rev. Robert 
Little, and Geoige Sweeny, Esq. foi the enlighten* d and feeling manner ia which 
those gentlemen have presented this interesting subject to this assembly. 

Thomas Carbery, Esq. formerlj' Mayor of the' City 
of Washington, then proposed the following resolution, 
which was unanimously adopted. 

6. Resolved, That the soveral resolutions, and the address presented to this 
meeting, be published, under the direction of the committee, in such manner as 
thejf may deem most suitable. 

George Washington Parke Custis, Esq. President 
of the meeting, being requested to withdraw, Alexander 
Kerr, Esq. was appointed Chairman, pro. tern, when it 



27 

was proposed by Thomas Carbery, Esq. and adopted 
unanimously. 

7. Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be presented to theChainnan and 
Secretary, for the cheerfulness witn which they assumed, und the anility with 
Which they have performed, the duties imposed upon them. 

The meeting then adjourned nine die. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON P. CUSTIS, 

Chairman. 
John Boyle, Secretory. 



APPENDIX, 



It is not deemed irrelevant, or improper, to annex to 
these proceedings the following eloquent effusions ; more 
especially as they have reference to that ill fated coun- 
try, once " distinguished among the nations of Europe 
as the asylum of the muses, the seat of learning, and 
dispenser of knowledge." They are extracted from the 
sentiments spoken at an interesting fete champetrc, cele- 
brated by a respectable and numerous party, on the de 4 - 
mesne of George Washington Parke Custis, Esq. of 
Arlington, on the 4th day of July, 182G, the 50th anni- 
versary of American Independence. The feast was given 
in the hallowed Tent of General Washington ; — the same 
that sheltered the Father of his country, from the time 
it was first pitched near Boston, in 1775, until it became 
a banqueting hall for the captive Chiefs of England, at 
It orktown, in 1 731. 

The Tent was supported by pillars entwined with 
beautiful wreaths of the laurel and the vine, and deco- 
rated, tastefully, with a series of emblematic medallions. 
One column was ornamented with an elegant medallion, 
representing Ireland, handsomely encircled with ever- 
greens, bearing on it an inscription in large Capitals : — 
" Honour and gratitude to Ireland, whose sons no- 
bly contributed to the establishment of American Inde- 
pendence." 

Mr. CUSTIS, in the course of some patriotic and 
animated remarks, pointed to this medallion, and ex- 
pressed himself as follows : 

" And thou, too, oh land of Montgomery, whose generous sons re- 
paired to our friendless standard when first it was unfurled for re- 
sistance. Brave hut unfortunate people ! May the God ofjostice and 
mercy grant thee hetter destinies. On the day of Independence, and 
from the pretorium of the Revolution, we bail thee in honoured and 



29 

grateful remembrance. At fhe sid» of our Chief did thy sons share 
in the toils, the perils, and the glories of a nation's deliverance. By 
the recollection of the privations they then endured, the blood they 
shed, and the bles.-ings we now enjoy, we trust that the day may 
soon arrive, when we shall behold thee delivered from thy thraldom* 
and hail thee regenerate in the rights of man. 

*' When the enemy, looking through the gratings of the prison- 
ships, into those hells where our prisoners were confined, offered 
to the Irish soldiers, who were naked, famished, and dying, clothing, 
food, and gold, to induce them to desert our cause, and take arms 
for the king, the poor fellows, from the infernal abodes of their 
misery, replied, with the little breath that was left them, and some 
with their last breath, God save great Washington, and the cause 
of America ! 

" Americans, although an Ocean divides us, can wc forget this ge- 
nerous, this injured people ? What are we to return them, not the 
services they rendered us, not the blood they shed tor us, only to 
let them know, that there are some in this great Republic, who cry 
' God bless you !' and is this poor tribute to be withheld, for fear 
of giving offence to others ? Shall we deny sympathy for the wrongs 
of those who so nobly contributed to obtain our rights? Forbid it 
common justice ; forbid it, divine spirit of gratitude The voice of 
united America will yet be heard, and that a voice of thunder, whose 
echoes shall reach the Emerald Isle, in prayers for her deliverance. '> 

Mr. CUSTIS concluded by proposing the following 
toast : 

The cause of Civil and Religious Liberty : — May the Nations of 
the Old World, ere another halt century shall elapse, be as inde- 
pendent and free, prosperous, contented, and happy as we. 

When Mr. Custis had taken his seat, Wm Sampson, 
Esq. rose, under the evident expression of strong emo- 
tion, and, after a short pause, addressed the President as 
follows : 

Sir : Over and above the pleasure of commemorating the Inde" 
pendence of this happy country, which 1 share in common with all 
who surround this festive board, well as such a scene is fitted to 
engross the whole heart of any patriotic citizen, or of any not lost 
to the best feelings of man's nature, there are other affecting re- 
collections, and less happy sensations, that have been revived in my 
mind by the generous and manly eloquence of the child of Mount 
Vernon, to whom we owe so much of the honest pleasures of this 
hour. 

To his hospitality we owe the enjoyment of this majestic scenery; 
that crystal fountain, so far transcending in beauty every monument 
of human art, which, for unrecorded ages, has poured its Jiving 
waters in its pebbly basin, and that shadowing oak from forth whose 



30 

antique rootg they issue, where the weary and the thirsty have 
o/ten sought refreshment and repose, joint emblems of eternity and 
time's decay. To him we owe this canopy, under whose sacred 
shade and shelter we now sit, free from care or pain, enjoving the 
fruits of his toils who, in the perilous and awful moments of his 
country's travail, retired within it, and watched whilst others slum- 
bered, confiding in his wisdom. How often, in the dead and lonely 
hours of silent night, has he, with no covering but that beneath 
which we are assembled, collecting all the powers of his mighty 
mind, planned those measures of just defence that turned the tide 
o! war, and fate itself, and saved that country fop which alone he 
lived, giving it peace and freedom, and to the world a bright exam- 
ple and a s.gn of hope. The hospitable owner of this soil, sir has 
done more tor us— he has given us, frem the abundance of his na- 
ive stores, an animating picture of the present and the past, awa- 
kening in our souls those lively feelings by which our nature is en- 
nobled, by cherishing whereof we only can be worthy of our happy 
state, and grateful to the Giver of ail good. 

If this were all, I should have sat in silent admiration, a* one en- 
tranced and in a happy virion, fixing my eyes and thoughts upon 
that .mage (a medallion of Washington) there suspended, the por- 
trait of bis person ; but, Oh ! how faint a type of all the virtues 
that adorned the hist and best of patriots. 

But, sir, this was not all. I could not close my eyes, nor shut 
my ears, nor affect to mistake or misunderstand the generous inten- 
tions manifested, not alone in glowing speech, but also in these 
tasteful and expressive decorations, that speak as much as words 
and captivate two senses at a time. I see amongst those the name' 
of one dear to tins land, and to another far less happy, of which he 
was a native— Montgomery. I knew him not but by bis fame But 
he had a brother, brave like himself, and generous. When I lav 
captive in a secret duneeon, and when disease assailed me, and 
other fnends were driven by terror from the very mention of my 
name, he stepped forward, and from that Cornwall with whom he 
had served, and who well knew his worth— that very Lord Corn- 
£ r£ 1 WdS honour; » bl y entertained when a prisoner by the 
Great Washington, even in this very tent— that brother of that 
Montgomery obtained from that Cornwall a respite from my Ion- 
persecution, having fir* challenged my accusers to put me on my 
trial, which they dared not And to that temporary enlargement, 
before disease and death had done their office, 1 owe it that I have 
lived to celeb' ate this joyful jubilee, even in the very tent which 
revives the recollection of that ever honoured chief' and pride of 
men that I am seated herein social conviviality amongst distin- 
gu.shed patriots of this land of refuge and true glory, and hear my 
much injured native land vindicated and cheered with words of 
overflowing kindness. 

Here I must stop-There are no words significant enough to tell 
you what I feel, and how I thank you all. For myself, I have ha!) 
tfo many proofs »J unmerited goodness from my' fellow citizens. 



J! 

during twenty years of u protracted life, that I must be void of 
sense or human feeling were I not grateful. But, for that long- 
suffering country, which you will allow me still to cherish in my 
heart, and think me no less your fellow-citizen for doing so, here, 
in the name of those whose hearts and tongues, in spite of terror 
and oppression, will ratify my words, I thank you. For what else, 
if words could tell the swelliug measure of feeling and of grateful 
hearts, 1 would have added, read it in your owft. 

FINIS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 371 191 A 



